Lung cancer kills 130,000 Americans a year — but screening is rare
With an early diagnosis lung cancer is no longer a death sentence . Annual screening could save almost 25,000 lives .
November PHOTO 21 , 2022
W R ITTEN BY Upal Basu Roy
ILLUSTRATION BY Mary Delaware
P U BLISHED November 21 , 20222
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OPINION
T hirty years ago , doctors had few options to treat patients with lung cancer , just chemotherapy and morphine to manage pain . In 1990 , the five-year survival rate was 13.8 %. Lung cancer is still the most lethal cancer in both men and women , but treatment advances mean lung cancer is no longer a death sentence . Today , the five-year survival rate for lung cancer is 22.9 %, and 555 % for patients ( https :/// www . lung . org / getmedia / 647c433b-4cbc-4be6-9312who are diagnosed early 2fa9a449d489 / solc-2022-print-report ) .
With more than 50 therapeutic options for lung cancer patients , treatments are now tailored to individuals , and patients are living longer and better with the disease . Yet , despite this incrediblee progress , the tool that could save the most lives — screening — is hardly being used . Fewer than 6 % of Americans at risk for developing lung cancer get screened annually . In contrast , more than 66 % of eligible people are screened for breast cancer every year , and 69 % for colorectal cancer .